Founding Director Emeritus, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States

Wilson Center Project(s):

"The United States and China: A New Type of Great Power Relationship"

Term:

Aug 29, 2013

-

Jul 31, 2015

Ambassador J. Stapleton (Stape) Roy is a Distinguished Scholar and Founding Director Emeritus of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. Stape Roy was born in China and spent much of his youth there during the upheavals of World War II and the communist revolution, where he watched the battle for Shanghai from the roof of the Shanghai American School. He joined the US Foreign Service immediately after graduating from Princeton in 1956, retiring 45 years later with the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the service. In 1978 he participated in the secret negotiations that led to the establishment of US-PRC diplomatic relations. During a career focused on East Asia and the Soviet Union, Stape’s ambassadorial assignments included Singapore, China, and Indonesia. His final post with the State Department was as Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research. On retirement he joined Kissinger Associates, Inc., a strategic consulting firm, before joining the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in September 2008 to head the newly created Kissinger Institute. In 2001 he received Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award for Distinguished Public Service.

Education

B.A., History, Princeton University; post-graduate study of Mongolian language, history, and culture, University of Washington; U.S. Army Russian Institute, Garmisch-Partenkirchen; distinguished graduate, National War College

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Washington and Beijing both consider good bilateral relations to be vital, but their growing strategic rivalry has the potential to evolve into mutual antagonism. In this new policy brief, published as the new leadership was announced in Beijing, China expert Stapleton Roy argues that the US should focus on regional engagement through multilateral organizations like ASEAN, as opposed to its military presence in the region. more

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BBC Radio’s Robin Lustig moderated a debate with Elizabeth Economy, Chas W. Freeman, Jr., J. Stapleton Roy, and Yan Xuetong. This debate, the third in a three-part series sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment, was structured around three broad questions on how the next U.S. president ought to engage China. more

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BBC Radio’s Robin Lustig moderated a debate with Elizabeth Economy, Chas W. Freeman, Jr., J. Stapleton Roy, and Yan Xuetong. This debate, the third in a three-part series sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment, was structured around three broad questions on how the next U.S. president ought to engage China.

Both Washington and Beijing consider good bilateral relations of vital importance. But their growing strategic rivalry has the potential to evolve into mutual antagonism. The hard reality is that China and the United States will not be able to lessen strategic mistrust unless and until they are prepared to address a central question: is there an array of military deployments and normal operations that will permit China to defend its core interests while allowing America to continue fully to meet its defense responsibilities in the region and protect vital U.S. interests?

The next decade is likely to be the decisive period determining the future course of U.S.-China relations. Unless China and the United States can find ways to block the current drift toward strategic rivalry, tensions will rise.

Pages

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Economic growth in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been slowing down since the onset of the global financial crisis. Does this represent the start of a new and downward growth trend? Can the PRC maintain a growth rate of eight percent in the near future?

How did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) not only survive but also regain the support of many Chinese citizens after the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989? Why has popular domestic sentiment turned toward anti-Western nationalism despite the anti-dictatorship democratic movements of the 1980s? Why is there a higher possibility that the new Beijing leadership will adopt a more nationalistic foreign policy in response to domestic nationalism in spite of China benefiting most from globalization?

Watch the webcast HERE! The upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will usher in a new generation of leaders to oversee the world’s second largest economy for the next decade. How will the incoming fifth generation of Chinese leaders affect party policy? As the U.S.-China relationship continues to grow, in size and complexity, what are the implications of this once-in-a-decade leadership transition, especially for bilateral interaction? Dr. Henry A. Kissinger is joined by former Ambassador to China J. Stapleton Roy, former Fellow Dr. Cheng Li, and China scholar Dr. David M. Lampton to discuss the possible implications for U.S.-China relations of this once-in-a-decade power transition.

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Pages

Washington and Beijing both consider good bilateral relations to be vital, but their growing strategic rivalry has the potential to evolve into mutual antagonism. In this new policy brief, published as the new leadership was announced in Beijing, China expert Stapleton Roy argues that the US should focus on regional engagement through multilateral organizations like ASEAN, as opposed to its military presence in the region.

J. Stapleton Roy, Director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States; Douglas Spelman, Deputy Director of the Kissinger Institute; Yafeng Xia, Associate Professor of History at Long Island University in New York.